The Sisters Weiss

I really wanted to like The Sisters Weiss by Naomi Ragen better than I did. I liked the story. A girl coming of age in the early 1960s decides the constrains of Orthodox Judaism are too much. She wants a fuller life than that of being married to a Torah scholar. Or worse - the owner of a delicatessen! The night before her wedding, she runs away.

Rose's departure puts pressure on her beloved younger sister, Pearl. Not only does Pearl feel as though she has to be "the perfect daughter," her chances of landing a good match for her marriage are limited due to the family scandal.

Fast forward 40 years later. Pearl's daughter, Rivkah, also runs away from the Orthodox Jewish community of Williamsburg. Her reasons are different and less defined than Rose's. And she runs away before a wedding date is set for her.

What did I like about the novel? I liked the idea of the story. A sister running away only to help her daughter's sister do something similar 40 years later. I grew up as a secular Jew, always on the fringe of a modern Orthodox community. I've always been fascinated by the lifestyles of the ultra-Orthodox. And I always like a novel set in Brooklyn, my hometown.

As a little girl, Rose had a savings account at the Dime Saving Bank. (I had my elementary school passbook account there, too.) By depositing a certain amount into her savings account, Rose is able to receive a prize of a cheap Brownie camera. She loves the idea of a camera, but she's always disappointed with her photographs. In high school, while still living with her family in Williamsburg, a father of a school friend introduces Rose to serious photography. She lies to her family, telling them she's volunteering to visit the sick once a week, when actually she's taking a photography class in Manhattan. Rose's dream is to become a professional photographer. Not a wedding photographer, but one who captures the greater world. I love photography so any mention of photography really enthralled me.

What didn't I like about the novel? I didn't like any of the characters. I think the portrayal of many of them was probably right on the money. But couldn't we get to see the warmer side of Pearl? Or Rose? I thought Rose's daughter, Hannah, was most unpleasant. Yes, she had her reasons for being a bit cold. But she was particularly unlikable to me. As was Rivkah. None of the characters were particularly nuanced. If they were, it was not in a way that I found sympathetic.

I loved Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox, a memoir about the author's escape from the Satmar community. I expected this to be a fictionalized story about sisters similar to Unorthodox. Perhaps that was why I was disappointed.